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(No Model) M. REARDON;

SHOE OR CORSET FASTENING.

No. 371,357. Patented Oct. 11,1887.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MUNROE REARDON, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

SHOE O'R CORSET FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,357, dated Cetober 11, 1887.

Application filed August E25, 1887.- Serial No. 247,874.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Monitor. REARDON, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lacing Devices for Shoes or Garments, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a lacing device to be attached to a shoe or garment which, while holding the lacing against displacement, will expand and adapt the garment or shoe to the movements of the foot or body of the wearer. I attain these objects by the peculiar construction of the lacing device shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front view of a portion of a shoe with my improvement attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a top view of my device detached from the shoe. Fig. 3 is an end elevation. Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view. Fig. 5 is a side view, with the eyelet in dotted lines, before being secured to the shoe. Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line a: x of Fig. 2, and Fig. 7 is a modification of my device.

Similar letters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views.

I employ in the construction of my device brass or steel wire of suitable length, and at or near its center I form a coil-spring, A, the object of which is to give elasticity to the lacing device and allow a free action of the shoe or garment upon the foot or body 01' the wearer. At one end of the spring A the wire is bent at right angles, and is then formed into a ring, B, through which an eyelet, C, may be passed for securing the lacing device to the shoe or garment. The free end of the wire is continued around, after forming the ring B, far enough so that the inner surface of the said ring may be perfectly smooth to allow the eyelet to rest snugly upon it. The under surface of the end of the wire which forms said ring is cut away,as shown at If, so as to allow it to fit over the ring. It is then bent partially around the ring and securely fastened (X0 model.)

thereto. The object of this groove I)" is,that the upper surface of the ring B may be almost flat, thus allowing the eyelet to be firmly attached to the shoe A. The other end of this wire is bent outwardly at right angles from the spring A, and is then bent upwardly, forming the angle a. ltis then split and bent in opposite directions, forming the projections b b, which retain the lace and prevent it from slipping ofi'. A pulley, D, is placed around the upwardlybent portion, and which serves as a friction roller for the lace. Each end of the pulley D is curved outwardly, so as to conform to the curves of the angles. In Fig. 7 the curved ends on the pulley are dispensed with, and the angles are made perfectly square.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As an improved article of manufacture, an elastic lacing-catch for shoes or. garments, consisting of a wire bent to form a coil-spring centrally of its length, having integral therewith at one end a ring at a rightangle with the coils of said spring, and having its other end extended outward and bent upward parallel with the coils of said spring, said arm carrying a pulley and having its upper extremity divided into two members bent oppositely from said arm parallel with the coils of said spring, said ring being adapted to receive an eyelet for securing the catch to the shoe or garment, as herein shown and described.

2. The combination, with a shoe, A, of a lacingcatch composed of the coil-spring A, ring B, arm integral therewith, said arm having the branching projections b b, and said catch being adapted to be secured to the shoe by an eyelet, 0, passed through its ring B into the fabric of the shoe, as herein shown and described, fer the purpose herein set forth.

MUNROE REARDON.

Witnesses:

WANnoPF. LYNN, J OHN CALLAHAN. 

